Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - (Page 19) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe June 2008 Special Report 19 In the UK only a handful of these academic entrepreneurs have made a success on the world stage. The leading ones are notable for their ability to identify great opportunities from their perspective as academic experts and then apply entrepreneurial skills to realise competitive advantage. This is easier said than done. In common with most business founders, founding academics will often fight hard to remain involved with the evolution of their ‘baby,’ but academics that stay intimately involved can do far more damage by keeping the company focussed on science rather than business development. The entrepreneurial mind Entrepreneurship requires an action-focused and less analytical of thinking. Particularly in Europe, academics are trained to be almost the opposite. They generally aren’t taught the fundamentals of business and entrepreneurship as part of their studies. There’s a good argument that any country that wants to be competitive in the global economy should include mandatory business studies in undergraduate curricula, as well as making related courses available as electives right through to postgraduate study level. Looking at the life sciences sector the majority of CEOs with academic backgrounds are either: ● Scientists who realised during their education or early in their academic careers that science was not for them. These people moved into Big Pharma or biotech in a commercial role, often through business development, and then made their way up the corporate ladder. ● Accountants who were able to understand some science but more importantly know how to put together a good story to attract money and commercial partners. Making the transition later in a career, however, requires a different kind of individual. So, can an academic re-orient himself? The first hurdle concerns what Americans like to call ‘mindset’ — the mental positioning one has to specific circumstances. Part of the challenge is being able to leave relative stability for relative chaos, from working in the context of a large, structured, hierarchical organisation, often with minimal personal interaction, to a sometimes weakly structured, highly dynamic, results-oriented environment where personal interactions can be crucial to success. It is like going from being a passenger on a large cruise liner to becoming the captain of a tiny lifeboat. “Why were they CEO to start with? In more than a few cases because no-one else would step up to the plate.” Dr William Bains, Cambridge University. On the other hand a founding academic who realises that the ‘idea’ is not the be all and end all can make a good C-suite executive. They realise that a great idea needs great business skills and capital to be commercialised. Finding an academic who is willing to be hands-off when the time is right is rare unless they have been through one or more start–ups. While letting go can be very hard for a founding academic the problems this creates for the business side of the company can be enormous. In our experience, this challenge is never easy to deal with. “Scientists can make good CEOs — they need enthusiasm, strong communication skills, determination and the ability to lead a team. Academic science and biotech are not that dissimilar — 90% of the things you try and do don’t work out the way you want them to, you just need determination and creativity to try again and get it right.“ Dr Will West, CEO, CellCentric. Beware the founding academic! Founding academics with an entrepreneurial drive are essential to get today’s high tech enterprises off the ground. They can provide a solid science base and can be instrumental in bringing a company to technical maturity but once the business is established founding academics need to make way for experienced managers. Founding academics are usually most effective as early stage chief scientific officers, chief technical officers or chief executive officers, but once business is underway they should then move over to become, for example, non-executive directors, board observers, or paid consultants and make way for more commercially focussed individuals to drive the business. Once professional investors come on board there is usually a gradual transition to a professional management structure. This is a result of both dilution (the investors slowly gain control at each funding round until they can simply force management changes) and of the vicissitudes of commercial life. This sometimes makes founding academics realise that perhaps they would prefer their former life back. The academic who
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 Contents From the Editor News and Analysis Calendar Brussels Report - Tell Us Something We Didn’t Know BioFutures - Friends, Acquaintances and Strangers IT Matters - The High Cost of Swimming Upstream Strategy Fundamentals - Hidden in Books Corporate Strategy - New Dimensions for New Business Models Special Report: Making the Leap Sales Force Incentives - The Goal: Setting Goals Last Word Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 (Page Cover1) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 (Page Cover2) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - From the Editor (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - From the Editor (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Calendar (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Brussels Report - Tell Us Something We Didn’t Know (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - BioFutures - Friends, Acquaintances and Strangers (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - IT Matters - The High Cost of Swimming Upstream (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - IT Matters - The High Cost of Swimming Upstream (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Strategy Fundamentals - Hidden in Books (Page 13) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Corporate Strategy - New Dimensions for New Business Models (Page 14) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Corporate Strategy - New Dimensions for New Business Models (Page 15) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Corporate Strategy - New Dimensions for New Business Models (Page 16) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Corporate Strategy - New Dimensions for New Business Models (Page 17) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Special Report: Making the Leap (Page 18) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Special Report: Making the Leap (Page 19) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Special Report: Making the Leap (Page 20) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Special Report: Making the Leap (Page 21) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Sales Force Incentives - The Goal: Setting Goals (Page 22) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Sales Force Incentives - The Goal: Setting Goals (Page 23) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Sales Force Incentives - The Goal: Setting Goals (Page 24) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Last Word (Page 25) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Last Word (Page 26) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - June 2008 - Last Word (Page 27)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.